On-Line Growing Pains

MANY CONSUMERS WHO decided to purchase gifts on-line this year to avoid the crowds and hassles involved in Christmas shopping may find that they merely exchanged one set of hassles for another.

It has been a rough season for on-line shopping, not because business is bad but for the opposite reason. So many people are shopping through their computers that businesses are running out of merchandise or otherwise having delays in getting orders shipped by Christmas.

It may hurt on-line shopping in the future slightly from some customers who have been burned and will not try again, but we doubt that it will have lingering effects.

Shopping through the Internet is still in its infancy, really. Businesses were not prepared to expand as rapidly as consumer demand required them to grow.

An estimated 10 million new customers were expected to try on-line shopping this year. That is a huge adjustment for any infant business to make.

Last year was the first big year of on-line Christmas shopping, and it did not go well. This year, at least in the minds of many frustrated consumers, was no improvement. It will probably smooth out in the long run.

But we would remind consumers that shopping at XXXreal stores supports local businesses and benefits home-town employment. And it provides a certainty that the gifts will actually be on hand to give at Christmas.